Sleepless
by IheartJack0023
Summary: An insomniac and a narcoleptic. They were opposites, but something about this whole situation made them connect. One-shot. [Ace x OC]


**A/N:** My first Ace fanfic since I've been avoiding writing for him because it's painful. I decided that it's okay as long as I ignore his death in it.

Side note, Narcissa means "sleep". And there's a reference to "Dumbo" here. Can you catch it?

* * *

"Would someone like to tell me what the hell happened out there?" Shouted Ace to his subordinates. They had been in the middle of a fight that went terribly wrong. Thankfully, Fire Fist Ace was there who was easily able to make up for whoever's mistake. Now, he just needed to find out who that whoever was.

"Umm…someone wasn't pulling their weight?" Said one person.

"Obviously! I wanna know who that was," he shouted, annoyance visible on his face. No one said anything but he saw head turns and sideway glances toward the very back of the group of pirates—to a girl he knew all too well, unfortunately not for good reasons. Ace sighed.

"Narcissa," Ace called her, but received no reply. She was staring down at the floor with droopy eyes. "Narcissa!" He called much louder..

"Huh?" She questioned, looking up to meet her commander's eyes. He let out another sigh as he saw how large and dark the bags under her eyes were.

"When was the last time you slept?" He questioned.

"Hmm…I really don't know. I have lost all sense of time." Ace pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration—why did the insomniac girl have to be in his division? Why couldn't it be Marco having to deal with this?

"Everyone except Narcissa is dismissed," commanded Ace. "Narcissa," he called. Narcissa groaned as she walked toward her commander. She knew what was coming next.

"Narcissa," he started, "how many times have I told you—." She cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah. I need to make sure I sleep because the tiredness affects how well I can work and if I mess up, it messes everyone up because teamwork and if we mess up that reflects badly on you and blablabla."

Ace's eye twitched at how rude she was being to him, her superior.

"Narcissa," he said in a warning tone, but either she didn't here or chose to ignore it because she simply continued speaking.

"But you know that it's hard for me! It's not that I'm choosing not to sleep. I can't help it! You know that!" Ace took a deep breath; he did know that.

"I'm not as lucky as you, y'know," she said, her voice taking a more melancholic tone. "You can fall asleep so easily. You can fall asleep anywhere! And, yeah, I'm sure it can be annoying, but…at least you're able to get sleep." Ace frowned. He didn't know that she had been feeling that way; he didn't realize how much this was frustrating her either. He rubbed the back of his neck as he considered if he should suggest what he was thinking if suggesting.

"Well," he said hesitantly. "If you want, I can try and help you. We can try all sorts of ways to see if we can get you to sleep." Narcissa's eyes widened.

"Am I hallucinating already? I didn't realize I was that sleep deprived."

"You're not hallucinating, idiot," he said, tapping his knuckles against her forehead softly. A light blush crossed Narcissa's face.

"Oh, then okay," she replied.

"So meet me here on the deck tonight after everyone's turned in for the night." He placed his hand over her head and ruffled her hair a bit. She swatted his hand away from her. Ace just gave her a grin. "You're dismissed."

* * *

 **[Night 1]**

"So what's the plan?" Narcissa asked Ace, who was standing next to her on the deck.

"First we're going to try something simple!" He said. She raised her eyebrow in response. "Warm milk!" Narcissa just stared at him for a few moments.

"You think I haven't tried that before? That's like the first thing that everyone tries."

"Ah! But you haven't have warm milk made by me!"

"Eh, I feel like that's a bad idea. You might burn down the kitchen..."

"Don't underestimate my cooking skills!" Ace exclaimed as he grabbed Narcissa's hand and pulled her along to the kitchen. He sat her down on a chair as he proceeded to warm up some milk. She put her head down on the table in front of her, following his movements with her eyes.

"I could've just done this myself, y'know?" She muttered.

"But I said I would help you!" He said with a pout. Narcissa internally squeed at the sight of said pout.

'Too cute,' she thought as she held back a blush. He soon placed a warm mug of milk in front of her and sat down across from her, grinning, with his own mug. She watched him chug his down as she drank hers slowly.

"Warm milk is not something that you're supposed to chug," she told him.

"I do that with everything though." Narcissa sighed.

"This isn't gonna work," she said as she was halfway done with her drink.

"You can't think that way! If you have no faith, then—," but he didn't finish, instead his head hit the table with a resounding thump. His light snores filled the room, his eyes closed and breathing even.

"I should have expected this..." She said to herself. She stared at him for a few minutes. "So cute," she muttered to herself as she reached out to touch the freckles on his face, but she stopped her just centimeters away from his skin. She sighed as she pulled her hand back.

"What am I doing?" She asked herself. She stood up from her chair and grabbed both of the mugs that sat on the table. She quickly washed them before picking up her commander (in that moment, she was glad with how strong she was) and carrying him to his bedroom.

* * *

 **[Night 2]**

"Alright," began Ace, "something different, but also involves eating!"

"Well, last night was drinking not eating," said Narcissa. But I feel like you just want excuses to have midnight snacks."

"That's not it at all!" Narcissa gave him a stare that said 'don't-lie-to-me-because-I-know-the-truth'. Ace sighed in defeat. "Okay, so maybe it is a little bit, but just a tiny bit! Your sleep is the priority!" Narcissa started heading to the kitchen.

"Come on, then," she told him. He followed after her. "So what is it tonight?" She asked him once they had arrived at the kitchen. She sat herself at a chair while Ace looked around for what he needed.

"I heard that a good way to help you get to sleep is to eat half a banana with a tablespoon of peanut butter!" Narcissa raised an eyebrow.

"Why those specific measurements?" Ace shrugged.

"Probably some sciencey reasons," he added placing a banana, two plates, a jar of peanut butter and a spoon on the table. Narcissa chuckled at his answer. He took a seat next to her and started to make the preparations. He split the banana in half—each one getting one—and then placed one spoonful of peanut butter on each plate.

Ace was about to eat his banana when he saw Narcissa dipping part of into the peanut butter. His eyes widened.

"What?! Why are you doing that?" He questioned.

"Hmm?" She questioned. She followed his gaze to see it landing on her peanut butter covered banana. "What? You've never eaten a peanut butter covered banana? What is wrong with you? That's how you're supposed to do it."

She proceeded to eat the banana in her hand slowly while Ace covered his own in peanut butter. Unlike her, he ate it in one bite. His eyes widened as he savored it.

"Thish ish amayshing," he said with his mouth full. [This is amazing]. Narcissa giggled as she finished took the last bite of her banana.

"You're such a messy eater," she told him, pointing at the peanut butter that sat sporadically around his mouth.

"Yeah? Well," he started as he dipped his finger into the remaining peanut butter on his plate. "You are too." He rubbed his finger across her cheek, smearing peanut butter on it. He grinned in triumph, while Narcissa sent him a playful smirk.

"Oh?" She asked. "So you wanna start a war then?"

She dipped her own fingers in the peanut butter smearing it over his cheeks as well. Before the two knew out, they were wrestling on the floor with peanut butter covering their hands and faces. It wasn't until they ended up with her straddling him, faces so close that she could count every single freckle on his face perfectly, that they stopped. They pulled away from each other with blushes on both of their faces. Narcissa couldn't help the giggle that escaped her throat.

"We're so weird," she said, standing up. "What kind of people have a food fight with peanut butter?"

"Fun people!" Exclaimed Ace with a grin.

"We're both so messy. Come on." She reached out her hand toward Ace to help him stand up. "Let's get cleaned up."

She pulled him to the sink, washing her hands before grabbing a rag from the countertop. She wet it and then turned to Ace using it to rub the peanut butter off of his face.

"Ah," started Ace, unsure if he should protest—he could just do it himself, but he liked this and he didn't want to ruin the moment.

"Your freckles are so cute," Narcissa said. Her eyes widened as she realized that she had said it; she hadn't meant to say it aloud. Ace blushed at the compliment. He had gotten that compliment before, from several other girls at that, but, this was different—she was different. She was someone whose company he had grown quickly to really enjoy. He liked this—the two of them spending this time together, just the two while the rest of the ship sat in silence. It made it feel like it was just them. It made it feel intimate.

"Glad you think so," he told her with a soft smile which made her blush. The two finished cleaning up and then sat back down at the table. Narcissa sighed as she stared up at the ceiling.

"So much for helping me go to sleep," she said. "That just made me more awake." Her reply was a thump followed by soft snores. She moved her head back down to look at a sleeping Ace in front of her. "You could at least put your head down beforehand so it doesn't slam down," she muttered. She admired the sight of the handsome, sleeping man again before carrying him to his room and setting him down on his bed.

* * *

 **[Night 3]**

"What have you got tonight?" Narcissa asked her commander.

"The kitchen!" He exclaimed as he grabbed onto her hand and pulled her in the direction of said room.

"Again?" She questioned. He sat her down on a chair when they had arrived and pulled out a few things from the cabinets, making some sort of concoction. "Do the cooks know that you've been coming here every night? I'm sure they wouldn't be pleased if they knew..."

"They can't know if we leave no evidence!" He explained with a grin. He turned around with a cup in his hand with a clearish, goldenish liquid inside it. He set the cup in front of her.

"Umm," she started, "the fact that you didn't prepare a cup for yourself also makes me scared to ask what this is."

"So I learned today that a good way to help someone go to sleep is to have them drink 8 oz of water with a spoonful of apple cider vinegar." Narcissa wrinkled her nose at that.

"No. Nope. Nope. Not drinking that. It sounds disgusting."

"Don't you want to go to sleep?"

"Yea, but I'm not drinking that. Let's move on to the next method!"

"No," said Ace. "You're going to give this a try whether you want to or not."

Narcissa's eyes widened at his words. She abruptly got up from her chair, causing it to fall over, and made a dash for the exit, but Ace was able to grab her before she escaped. He wrapped his arms around her to hold her in place, but she continued to squirm to get out of his grasp. He kept one arm tightly around her torso while using the other to grab the drink. He ignored her flailing and the kicks she sent toward his legs as placed the cup in front of her lips, using the edge of the cup to push her lips apart and then forcing the liquid down her throat. Once it was all gone, he let her go.

"Oh my god," she said, sticking her tongue out in disgust. "That was the worst thing I've ever tasted."

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," he said, waving it off. She glared at him.

"Then make another cup and drink it." Ace laughed nervously.

"Nope. I'm not the one that needs help getting to sleep." Narcissa's eye twitched, but before she could respond, she saw his eyelids droop. She rushed forward, catching him as he fell forward, asleep.

"Goddamit, Ace," she muttered. "You're so troublesome."

She dragged him over to his room, setting him on his bed. Her eyes lingered as she turned to leave and she found herself standing over him, her hand reaching out again. She let her fingers brush against his face this time, tracing them across his freckles and up to his hair, running them through it.

"So soft," she whispered to herself. She felt like she was in a trance. When she felt Ace move into her hand though, the trance was broken and she jumped back away from him as if she had been burned. She ran her hand down her face. "I'm too sleep deprived," she told herself. "Yeah. That's the reason."

* * *

 **[Night 4]**

"So we're not headed to the kitchen today," Ace told her. "We can stay out here if you want or go somewhere else."

"Out here is fine," she told him. "I like it out here." She sat down cross legged on the wooden floor; he did the same, across from her. "Alright, let's get to it. I've started hallucinating. I saw a pink dancing elephant earlier today."

"What? Pink? Dancing?"

"Don't question it."

"Alright, well," he started as he pulled out two things from his pockets. One was a bottle of some liquid and the other was some tissue.

"You better not be making me drink that." Ace shook his head with a laugh.

"This is lavender," he said.

"Where the hell did you get lavender?"

"Izo."

"Ah. Okay. That explains it," she said with a nod.

"Okay, so, we gotta put a few of this on the tissue," he stated, doing as he said. "And now you hold to your nose and take 15 deep breaths." He handed her the tissue, she raised her eyebrow at his statement.

"15? That's oddly specific." Ace just shrugged. She placed the tissue on her nose took the 15 deep breaths, enjoying the smell of the lavender. Her eyes met Ace's for a moment as she did so, but she quickly averted them as pink invaded her cheeks. Once she had taken the proper amount of deep breaths, she put the tissue down.

"Hmm. I don't feel any different," she told him.

"Maybe we just need to wait." Narcissa nodded and lay down on her back to look up at the stars. She saw Ace lay down next to her with the corner of her eyes. Silence enveloped the pair.

"Hey," she said, breaking the silence. "I just wanna say...thank you." Ace turned his head to the side to look at her.

"For what?"

"Trying to help me. And not giving up on me. Nobody's ever done that for me before," she finished in a soft voice. Ace turned on his side to get a better view of her.

"Narcissa," he said softly. He placed his hand on the cheek farthest from him, indicating to her that he wanted her to turn as well. She turned to her side to stare at him properly. "I won't ever give up on you. Promise." Narcissa smiled at him.

"I'm still not tired," she said.

"Close your eyes."

He brushed his fingers over her eyelids, drawing them down, before placing it back on her cheek. She focused on Ace's warm touch against her skin and relaxed herself to see if she could finally fall into a slumber. But after a while had passed, after she heard Ace's snores once again resound through the air, she opened her eyes, giving up for the night with a sigh. A smile etched itself back onto her face though when she stared at the peaceful face of the man before her. She placed a hand over his—the one that still lay on her cheek—and leaned into his touch. She liked this, she thought. She really, really like this. Her eyes then widened in realization and she silently cursed to herself. She couldn't deny it—she was falling in love with her commander. With that thought in her mind, she got up and carried him to his bed again.

* * *

 **[Night 5]**

"You may not want to give up, but I sure do," Narcissa told Ace. "I am at the end of my rope here."

"No!" He told her, grabbing onto her shoulders and shaking her. "I won't let you give up!"

"Alright, alright! Jeez! Stop shaking me." He let go of her and stepped back. "What's on the schedule today?" She asked him.

"Mantram!" He exclaimed. She raised her eyebrow, like usual, in question. "It's when you repeat something over and over and over until you fall asleep." Narcissa sighed.

"Guess I'm gonna be repeating it all night then."

"Narcissa," he started, going to grab her shoulders, but she swatted them away.

"I know. I know. Don't give up. Got it."

"Good!" He got her to lay down on the floor. "Now, repeat 'Ace is the best'."

"No way," she told him immediately. He pouted at her. "The most I'll do is repeat 'Fire Fist Ace'."

"I'll take what I can get!" He grinned. "This way you'll fall asleep, thinking of me." Narcissa blinked at him.

'Why,' she thought, 'had he said that?'

Nonetheless, she closed her eyes and started to repeat the phrase over and over, but still, though her fatigue remained, her brain did not want to comply and let her fall asleep. She stopped and opened her eyes to look at the man whose name she had been repeating to see that he had fallen asleep leaning against the railing of the ship. She scooted over and squatted in front of him. Running her fingers over his freckles, she looked at him with furrowed brows.

"Why are you trying so hard?" She questioned, receiving no answer from the slumbering man. She stood up and stretched before picking him up and, like routine, carrying him to his bed.

[Night 6]

Ace let out a heavy sigh. He sat on the deck, legs stretched out, arms holding him up beside him, and his gaze on the stars above. A frown settled on his face as he thought about what he was going to tell Narcissa. He heard her walk toward him and watched her move to stand in front of him.

"Strange," she commented. "I'm always the one here first." Ace didn't reply. He only held his hand toward her. Narcissa grabbed it thinking that he wanted her to pull him up, but instead he used his greater strength to pull her down. She fell right onto his lap causing her to blush.

"Wha—?" She started to question, but stopped when she felt his arms wrap around her.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "I haven't been any help." Narcissa's eyes softened at his words. She shifted around so that she could face him directly. And then she placed her hands on either side of his face.

"It's alright. I never really expected any of this to work," she revealed to only made Ace's frown deepen.

He pulled her into an even deeper hug. She froze at first, but after a few seconds moved to wrap her arms around him. She nuzzled into the crook of his neck, inhaling his distinct smell, which resembled, just a bit, the smell of burning firewood. And before she knew it, as she sat there enveloped in his smell with the chilled, night air hitting her legs and part of her back while the warmth of his fiery body warmed the rest, she fell into slumber. A grin spread across Ace's face as he felt her breathing even out. He moved her so that he could see her and was overjoyed that she had actually fallen asleep.

"Huh," he said to himself as he brushed back some of her hair. "Who would have known that that was what you needed?"

He picked her up in his arms and decided to bring her to his room. He set her down on his bed and couldn't help but to admire her sleeping form. It was nice to see her looking so relaxed and peaceful. After some internal debating, though not all that much, he kicked off his boots and lay down next to her, holding her close to him. He told himself that he was doing it because it had helped her fall asleep in the first place so it would help her stay asleep, but in the back of his mind he knew that that wasn't the case. He knew that it was because he liked this—he liked the time he spent with her, he liked touching her, he liked holding her in his arms, he liked her.

"The things you do to me," he whispered to her before falling asleep.

* * *

 **Bonus ending:**

Narcissa woke up initially confused. She yawned and rubbed her eyes before realizing that she was in Ace's room and on Ace's bed. Her brow furrowed as she tried to recall what had happened—had she actually fallen asleep, she wondered. She made sure all traces of sleep were removed from her face before exiting the room and heading up to the deck. The first person she saw was Ace so she walked up to him.

"Did I fall asleep?" She asked him.

"Yup," he said, sending her a grin.

"What time is it?"

"3-ish."

"Ah, I slept in so late." She gave him a confused look when he responded with laughter. "What?" She questioned.

"Narcissa," he started, "you've been asleep for three days now." Her eyes widened at that.

"What?! Seriously?!"

"Mhmm. It's good to finally see you not looking like a raccoon." Narcissa huffed. "And now we know how to help you get to sleep," he said and sent her a wink. She blushed as she remembered that she had fallen asleep in his arms. She covered her face with her hands.

"No," she told him. Ace just laughed.


End file.
